MAY I applaud through your pages, the decision by Stratford District Council (Journal August 31) not to allow planning permission for the housing development in Barton on the Heath.

The farmers/landowners who wish to turn OUR countryside into dormitory villages for the rich have no concern at all for the environment. They look at a green field or ancient woodland and see a factory - only useful as long as it makes them money. Is it any wonder that their pleas to 'SUPPORT THE BRITISH FARMERS' so often falls on deaf ears?

The British public is getting sick and tired of hearing the whinges of this generously subsidised industry, when so often they ride roughshod over the feelings and concerns of the rest of us who live in the countryside. I wonder if the aforementioned farmer took into account how the lives of his neighbours would change for the worse when he was considering his latest get-rich-quick scheme. I very much doubt if it even crossed his mind.

n ROBERT MATHEWS, Little Compton, Moreton-in-Marsh.